Mercury contamination was detected in every fish sampled in 291 streams across the country. About a quarter of these fish were found to contain mercury at levels exceeding the criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish, established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Mercury-tainted fish found widely in U.S. streams

Thu Aug 20, 2009 3:17pm EDT

“This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds, and many of our fish in freshwater streams,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. The USGS is part of the Interior Department.
The neurotoxin enters the environment chiefly as an air pollutant spewed into the atmosphere by industrial emissions, then falls back to the surface in precipitation and particulate matter carried over long distances.
The main source of atmospheric mercury, according to the EPA, is coal-fired power plants.
Conducted from 1998 through 2005, the USGS study is the first comprehensive survey of mercury contamination in the water, sediments and fish of rivers and creeks throughout the United States.

[ . . . ]

“BLACKWATER STREAMS”Some of the highest levels of mercury in the latest study were found in the coastal “blackwater” streams of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana — relatively undeveloped areas marked by abundant pine forests and wooded wetlands.
USGS hydrologist Barbara Scudder said those characteristics somehow enhance the conversion of mercury from its inorganic form in the atmosphere to a more toxic organic form, methylmercury, which accounts for at least 95 percent of the mercury found in fish.

[ . . . ]

High concentrations also were found in some streams in the West fed by areas where mining had taken place, Scudder said.

My Note – I actually stumbled on this story below when searching for “blackwater mercury” to find the story about those blackwater rivers being more polluted with mercury than the average which I read a few days ago.”

US extends Iraq contract for Blackwater firm

By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer

Posted: 09/02/2009 06:16:20 AM PDT

Updated: 09/02/2009 04:30:18 PM PDT

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]]>WASHINGTON—The State Department said Wednesday it has extended a contract for protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq with a subsidiary of the security firm once known as Blackwater USA even though the company doesn’t have a license to operate in the country.

[etc.]

Iraqis had long complained about incidents involving Blackwater’s ground operations. Then a shooting by Blackwater guards in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square in September 2007 left 17 civilians dead, further strained relations between Baghdad and Washington and led U.S. prosecutors to bring charges against the Blackwater contractors involved.

The incident prompted a wide-ranging review of the State Department’s security practices in Iraq and its dependence on contractors like Blackwater, which was most recently in the news last month when it was revealed that the CIA had turned to the firm when it revived a now-defunct plan to kill or capture terrorists in 2004.

[ . . . ]

It has also been the target of criticism from members of Congress, including Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who has been particularly outspoken on the subject. As recently as last month, Schakowsky wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to complain that their two agencies were continuing to use the company.

[ . . . ]

Once the extended Presidential Airways contract expires, the company will no longer be used in Iraq by the department, which has turned to DynCorp and another private security firm, Triple Canopy, to handle diplomatic protective services in the country.

But Xe continues to provide security for diplomats in other nations, most notably in Afghanistan.

Wonder if those mercenaries being trained at Blackwater / Xe USA along the blackwaters are fishing and consuming those fish? Maybe it has caused some sort of psychotic damage to them . . . its a thought.

– cricketd

***

Xe Services LLC (pronounced /ˈzi/) is a private military company founded as Blackwater USA in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark.[2][3] In October 2007, the company was renamed Blackwater Worldwide and was colloquially referred to as “Blackwater”. Blackwater has a wide array of business divisions, subsidiaries, and spin-off corporations but the organization as a whole has courted much controversy.[4][5][6][7][8]

Based in the U.S. state of North Carolina, Xe operates a tactical training facility (36°27′N76°12′W﻿ / ﻿36.45°N 76.2°W﻿ / 36.45; -76.2) which the company claims is the world’s largest, and at which the company trains more than 40,000 people a year, mostly from U.S. or foreign military and police services. The training consists of military offensive and defensive operations, as well as smaller scale personal security.

[etc.]

Xe is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department‘s three private security contractors. Of the 987 contractors Xe provides, 744 are U.S. citizens.[11][12] At least 90 percent of the company’s revenue comes from government contracts, of which two-thirds are no-bid contracts.[13] Xe provided security services in Iraq to the United States federal government, particularly the Department of State[1][14] on a contractual basis. They no longer have a license to operate in Iraq: the new Iraqi government made multiple attempts to expel them from their country,[15] and denied their application for an operating license in January 2009.[16] However, the company is still under contract with the State Department and some Xe personnel will likely remain in Iraq at least until September 2009.[17]

In the late 1990s, Erik Prince spent part of his inherited wealth to purchase about 6,000 acres (24 km2) of the Great Dismal Swamp, a vast swamp on the North Carolina/Virginia border, now mostly a National Wildlife Refuge. Here he created his state-of-the-art private training facility, and his contracting company—Blackwater—is named for the peat-colored water of the swamp.[18] Blackwater USA was formed in 1990 to provide training support to military and law enforcement organizations. In 2002 Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) was formed. It was one of several private security firms employed following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. BSC is one of over 60 private security firms employed during the Iraq War to guard officials and installations, train Iraq‘s new army and police, and provide other support for occupation forces.[19] Blackwater was also hired during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the United States Department of Homeland Security, as well as by private clients, including communications, petrochemical and insurance companies.[20] Overall, the company has received over $1 billion USD in government contracts.[21] Blackwater consists of nine divisions, and a subsidiary, Blackwater Vehicles.

(there have been some charges against Blackwater contractors used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina involving shooting deaths / and other very questionable events, including inordinate violence and brutality.)

-my note

***

Mercury poisoning (also known as hydrargaria or mercurialism) is a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Mercury (chemical symbol Hg) is a heavy metal which occurs in several forms, all of which can produce toxic effects in high enough doses.

[ . . . ]

Symptoms typically include sensory impairment (vision, hearing, speech), disturbed sensation and a lack of coordination. The type and degree of symptoms exhibited depend upon the individual toxin, the dose, and the method and duration of exposure.

Causes

The consumption of fish is by far the most significant source of ingestion-related mercury exposure in humans, although plants and livestock also contain mercury due to bioaccumulation of mercury from soil, water and atmosphere, and due to biomagnification by ingesting other mercury-containing organisms.[4] Exposure to mercury can occur from breathing contaminated air;[5] from eating foods containing mercury residues from processing, such as can occur with high-fructose corn syrup;[6] from exposure to mercury vapor in mercury amalgam dental restorations;[7] and from improper use or disposal of mercury and mercury-containing objects, for example, after spills of elemental mercury or improper disposal of fluorescent light bulbs.[8]

Human-generated sources such as coal plants emit approximately half of atmospheric mercury, with natural sources such as volcanoes responsible for the remainder. An estimated two-thirds of human-generated mercury comes from stationary combustion, mostly of coal. Other important human-generated sources include gold production, non-ferrous metal production, cement production, waste disposal, crematoria, caustic soda production, pig iron and steel production, mercury production (mostly for batteries), and biomass burning.[9]

Mercury and many of its chemical compounds, especially organomercury compounds, can also be readily absorbed through direct contact with bare, or in some cases (such as dimethylmercury) insufficiently protected, skin. Mercury and its compounds are commonly used in chemical laboratories, hospitals, dental clinics, and facilities involved in the production of items such as fluorescent light bulbs, batteries, and explosives.[10]

Mechanism

Mercury is such a highly reactive toxic agent that it is difficult to identify its specific mechanism of damage, and much remains unknown about the mechanism.[11] It damages the central nervous system, endocrine system, kidneys, and other organs, and adversely affects the mouth, gums, and teeth. Exposure over long periods of time or heavy exposure to mercury vapor can result in brain damage and ultimately death.

and for the record, there are gold mining strip mining operations in the areas of Alaska which had been protected areas and in the countries immediately west of the Gobi desert and Mongolia which have increased their sandstorms and desertification. The acreage increase in the deserts and the mercury damage to streams and being borne on the winds is evidently creating ecological damage around these operations, even across thousands of miles nearby where the updrafts carry the materials on the winds.

I’ll look into a bit more, but I have tracked some of how those gold mining operations were given lands that should’ve been protected. I’ll have to find that file . . .

And the Blackwater / Xe workers really ought to be checked – cause those folks are nuts . . .

On August 17, someone who wanted to see how the Earth looks from 440 miles away in space downloaded the one-millionth Landsat satellite image scene from a U.S. Geological Survey web site at its Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Since the USGS opened its full Landsat archive to user access at no charge last October, the response from across the nation and around the globe has grown exponentially.

“USGS satellite operations and its data archives at EROS enable experts, or any interested member of the public, to see the land objectively with unbiased, consistently calibrated data,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “The historical depth and reliability of these earth observations are vital to scientists and land managers across the country and across the Department of the Interior in projects that range from climate change studies and invasive species surveys to the monitoring of drought and assessment of wildfire damage.”

One development of particular note is that the very oldest data in the archive, dating to over three decades ago, is being downloaded at unprecedented levels – with land-surface change detection emerging as a primary use of Landsat data.

“The opening of the Landsat archive to free, web-based access is like giving a library card for the world’s best library of Earth conditions to everyone in the world,” said Adam Gerrand, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Landsat 1 was launched on July 23, 1972, and subsequent Landsat missions have continually acquired land-image data across the globe. Scientists, educators, and the general public use these data for a wide array of activities ranging from supporting disaster relief efforts to making agricultural crop assessments to identifying sites for cell phone towers.

Possible Forecast for Continued Antarctica Glacier Loss and Sea-Level Rise Due to Climate Change

Antarctica’s glaciers are melting more rapidly than previously known because of climate change, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey report prepared in close collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey.

The USGS study documents for the first time that one ice shelf has completely disappeared and another has lost a chunk three times the size of Rhode Island. This research is part of a larger ongoing project that is for the first time studying the entire Antarctic coastline.

“This study provides the first insight into the extent of Antarctica’s coastal and glacier change,” Salazar noted. “The rapid retreat of glaciers there demonstrates once again the profound effects our planet is already experiencing-more rapidly than previously known– as a consequence of climate change. The scientific work of USGS, which is investigating the impacts of climate change around the world, including an ongoing examination of glaciers, is a critical foundation of the Administration’s commitment to combat climate change.”

The USGS study focuses on Antarctica, which is the earth’s largest reservoir of glacial ice. In a separate study published in today’s Geophysical Letters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that ice is melting much more rapidly than expected in the Arctic as well, based on new computer analyses and recent ice measurements.

Using historical and recent satellite imagery, aerial photography and other data, as well as the newest mapping techniques, the USGS study released today maps recent glacier retreat along Antarctica’s Larsen and Wordie Ice Shelves. It represents is just one map of several upcoming studies of Antarctica’s glaciers.

Scientists previously knew that the Wordie Ice Shelf has been retreating, but this study documents for the first time that it has completely disappeared. Moreover, the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. An area more than three times the size of the State of Rhode Island (more than 8,500 km2) has broken off from the Larsen Ice Shelf since 1986.

USGS scientists report that these floating ice shelves are especially sensitive to climate change, so their rapid retreat may be a forecast for losses of the land-based ice sheet on the Antarctic continent if warming continues. This could result in sea-level rise, threatening low-lying coastal communities and islands.

“This continued and often significant glacier retreat is a wakeup call that change is happening in our Earth System and we need to be prepared,” said USGS glaciologist Jane G. Ferrigno, lead author on the study. “Antarctica is of special interest because it holds an estimated 91 percent of the Earth’s glacier volume, and change anywhere in the ice sheet poses significant hazards to society.”

The new report and map of the Larsen Ice Shelf are part of a project to research the coastal change and glaciological characteristics of the entire Antarctic margin. The research is also part of the USGS Glacier Studies Project that is monitoring and describing glacier extent and change over the whole planet using satellite imagery.

The research in Antarctica is a collaborative effort of the USGS and the British Antarctic Survey, with the assistance of the Scott Polar Research Institute and Germany’s Bundesamt fűr Kartographie und Geodäsie.

great slide show on this page – click on any image and it will take you to the story – very interesting stuff – (the second image right now is about the earthquakes in Italy mapped out using the PAGER system)

The eruption of Redoubt volcano continues. Seismic and satellite data over the past day indicate continued lava dome growth. The volcano is not visible in web camera views during the night. A low-level steam and gas plume that may contain small amounts of ash is likely present.

USGS and The Great Southern California ShakeOut!

The ShakeOut science scenario depicts a magnitude 7.8 earthquake striking the Southern San Andreas Fault, starting at the Salton Sea and rupturing northward 190 miles. In the scenario, the earthquake would kill 1800 people, injure 50,000, cause $200 billion in damage, and have long-lasting social and economic consequences.

This is the most comprehensive analysis ever of what a major Southern California earthquake would mean and is being used as the basis for The Great Southern California Shakeout, November 12-18, 2008, which includes the largest earthquake preparedness drill in United States history. Register to participate, and find out what you can do, at www.shakeout.org.

USGS ShakeOut Scenario Scientific Studies and Products

The USGS led a multi-disciplinary team of more than 300 experts from academia and industry, public and private sectors to develop the ShakeOut Scenario and communicate it to end users including emergency managers and the general public. USGS scientists have also used the scenario’s results to conduct additional research. Many products are available for download, including Shakeout Scenario Reports, Narrative, Studies, Maps, and Movies.

Maps, Imagery, and Publications

Today’s Earthquake Fact

The origin of the name of the San Andreas Fault is often cited as the San Andreas Lake. However, based on some 1895 and 1908 reports by geologist A.C. Lawson, who named the fault, the name was actually taken from the San Andreas Valley. Lawson likely did not realize at the time that the fault ran almost the entire length of California.

The USGS received approximately $140 million as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help upgrade and improve some of the USGS laboratories and research capabilities and the energy efficiency, health, and safety of the bureau’s facilities. This money will also go toward modernizing streamgages, adding monitoring equipment to the Advanced National Seismic System, expanding our volcano monitoring efforts, collecting imagery as part of The National Map, and upgrading research facilities.

[see list on this page]

DOI Recovery Investments by Bureau

Select a bureau below to learn more about how each is contributing to America’s economic recovery.

[click on logos at bottom of the page to see individual agency uses of Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds by each bureau]

Nissan Brings Electric Car Prototype To Portland

BY KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL

Portland, OR April 6, 2009 3:50 a.m.

Nissan will unveil a prototype of its new electric car in Portland Monday. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, the carmaker plans to introduce the new model in Oregon next year and then market it worldwide in 2012.What she means by “real cars” is that they’re not the tiny “bubble cars” that used to be associated with electric vehicles; that they seat five people; and that they can travel more than 40 miles between charges.

Nissan is a latecomer to the electric vehicle market.

Its plan has been to sign a “memorandum of understanding” with Oregon. The company will launch its car here and in exchange Oregon, PGE and several other large companies will build a network of charging stations.

[etc.]

Oregon is one of seven states vying for the company to build a factory for its small car in the United States.

Then Tuesday, the governor and the CEO of a Norwegian electric car maker have scheduled a press conference.

Nissan is targeting Oregon as an introductory market because the state has the highest per capita number of hybrid owners in the nation.

Nissan Motor Co. unveiled a new prototype electric vehicle Wednesday with batteries twice as powerful as conventional technology, aiming to take a lead in zero-emission cars.Japan’s third-largest automaker said the front-wheel drive, boxy-shaped car has a newly developed 80 kilowatt motor with advanced lithium-ion batteries installed under the vehicle’s floor to avoid taking up space.

The laminated batteries, jointly developed with electronics giant NEC Corp., pack twice the electric power of conventional nickel-metal hydride batteries currently used in hybrid and electric cars, it said.

Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says

Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:56pm EDT

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) – Right-wing extremists in the United States are gaining new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of the first black U.S. president, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a report to law enforcement officials.

The April 7 report, which Reuters and other news media obtained on Tuesday, said such fears were driving a resurgence in “recruitment and radicalization activity” by white supremacist groups, antigovernment extremists and militia movements. It did not identify any by name.

DHS had no specific information about pending violence and said threats had so far been “largely rhetorical.”

But it warned that home foreclosures, unemployment and other consequences of the economic recession “could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists.”

Quality of Water from Domestic Wells in the United States

2,167 Wells Sampled
in 30 Regionally Extensive Aquifers

Domestic wells sampled in this study (colored circles) are located in 48 states and within 30 regionally extensive aquifers used for water supply in the United States. The aquifers represented by wells in the study are shown, with aquifers and symbols for well locations color-shaded to indicate aquifer rock or sediment type.

by Leslie A. DeSimone, Pixie A. Hamilton, and Robert J. GilliomThis study from the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assesses water-quality conditions for about 2,100 domestic wells across the United States. As many as 219 properties and contaminants, including pH, major ions, nutrients, trace elements, radon, pesticides, and volatile organic compounds, were measured. Fecal indicator bacteria and additional radionuclides were analyzed for a smaller number of wells. The large number of contaminants assessed and the broad geographic coverage of the present study provides a foundation for an improved understanding of the quality of water from the major aquifers tapped by domestic supply wells in the United States.

The results of this study are described in two USGS publications, including an overview of the study findings (Circular 1332) and a detailed technical report on data sources, analyses, and results (Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5227). Both publications can be downloaded in PDF format from the NAWQA website (see below). Also available in PDF format are two related articles in the Water Well Journal of the National Ground Water Association, which briefly summarize USGS study findings and general information on domestic well maintenance, siting, and testing.

* I don’t have to worry about contaminants in well water because I drink tap water that has its own street address because of “personality”. Atlanta and its surrounding areas have proven there is some use in bottled water. We have more pharmaceuticals in the water than most towns prescribe for their entire population over an entire year.

* I don’t have to worry about earthquakes because in Georgia we let these things happen above ground that blow everything slap to hell – tornadoes, lightning storms, wind gusts that will take your fake fingernails off.

* I don’t have to worry about the credit crisis because nobody in any bank is going to lend money to me regardless unless I go get some rental furniture and manage to spend $200 a month paying for it over ten or twenty years when I could’ve bought it for $500 in the first place.

* And, I don’t have to worry about electric cars, alternative fuels, hybrid cars or other things like that because there is enough natural gas in Georgia and throughout the Southeast to blow any car on down the road without eating beans beforehand. Believe this, I have a lot of family in the South and there is not a shortage of naturally occurring fuels and fertilizers around here.

And, just in case nobody knew this, I don’t have to worry about living in California anymore because apparently they are practicing for what to do when the place slides into the ocean. I can swim , but no . . .

Just a thought or two.

– cricketdiane, 04-15-09

***

Really good ideas – really bad ideas – Impossible really to tell the difference – [ but to what extent does it matter? ] and places to find some nifty helpful information about ice melting, Oregon and electric cars, earthquakes and volcanoes – and right-wing extremists – oh no –